Left Behind
by Naf1a7Ate9
Summary: Jason is a lone thief on the streets of Caliphas, a dilapidated city built in the swamplands and protected from the ever-present armies of hybrids by the mysterious Fortress. When a chain of events and an attack lead him to the Fortress, however, everything changes. Deadlox, TrueMU, Skydoesminecraft, & other YTers used. Summary may change when the author is no longer half asleep.
1. Chapter 1

**Heya dudes! As my main series is finishing up, I've decided to start a side story. It'll have to take backseat to the Sunset stories, but once I finish that I'll be making this my main storyline. Sit back and enjoy/cry/scream/laugh rage at the author for only updating once a week!**

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><p>The shopkeeper in front of me narrows his eyes suspiciously. "I know you. You's not got cash. You best be getting outta here if you's knowin' what's good fer you."<p>

"Just lookin'," I scowl, moving as if to pass by the little broken-down cart that he uses as his grocery store. As I brush past him, I trip over a small root in the giant pool of semi-solid filth that passes as the clearing for the market and have to steady myself against the shopkeeper.

"Watch where you's goin'!" he shouts indignantly.

I don't bother to respond, but slog off through the muck before he can realize that I pinched his coin-purse. He deserved it, anyway. Opening the purse, I count five copper pieces. Five coppers won't buy much, but then again, there's not much to be bought. The hybrids have destroyed most of the crops, and when you used to be able to buy a loaf of bread for a single coin, now you're lucky to get a slice. Especially if you're a kid who looks as much like trouble as me.

I duck into an alleyway as Ryan and the rest of his gang tromp past. I'm a loner, and on what they've dubbed as 'their turf.' I'd be beaten into a pulp if they caught a glimpse of me. But they won't, because I'm fast and I've been at this for a good ten years, ever since my mom died in the hybrid attacks when I was seven.

I don't like to think about my mom.

As I make my way through the little convenient gap between two of the houses on Cobble Road (cobble is being polite; it's mostly mud nowadays), I catch sight of my reflection in a puddle. The constant rain that plagues the swamplands is disturbing the surface of the puddle, but I know my face well enough. My bluish green eyes. My slightly crooked nose, sore from where Ryan broke it in our last fight. My stupidly curly hair still sticking up from the back of my head. The usual for me.

Trying to smooth my hair back into place, I lose track of where I'm going and slam straight into one of the town guards. "Well, lookit here, Todd," the guard says to his fellow, catching my arm tightly. "Where'd you get that purse, boy?"

Stupidly, I look down and see that I'm still clutching the shopkeeper's purse in my hand. Damn it. "I…"

Todd grabs my other arm, and I try not to let the pain of his grip show on my face. "Well, kid? Speak up, or you's in big trouble."

I get the feeling that I'm already in big trouble. "My Auntie Sally be givin' it to me. She wants me to fetch a pig from the market," I lie.

"Really? And how much a pig be costin', you think?" The first guard pries the purse from my fingers and pours out the five coins. "Pigs be goin' for about four silvers, boy. So where's your pig, unless you planned on buyin' a pig for _five coppers_?"

"The pig's name be Jeffery, and Jeffery done ran off," I say sullenly.

"Oh, yeah? Nobody loses a pig nowadays and would be goin' home to tell the tale!"

"You's got the look of a dishonest man about you, kid. D'ya know what I'm drivin' at?"

"I didn't steal the money," I protest, already knowing it's too late.

"Kid, you better be comin' with us," Todd says, steering me towards the town hall, where they'll have a trial and sentence me, usually in the same breath. I know the routine, but I don't exactly begrudge our next to useless legal system. After all, I'm usually guilty as charged.

I do, however, begrudge a fresh use of the few unbranded inches of my shoulder, where the letter 'T' (for thief, they tell me) has been burned in so many times that there's hardly a new spot left. As the first guard drags me along, I waste no time in stamping on his foot and then scything my heel around to the back of his other knee as he yelps, standing on one foot.

The guard cries out, letting go of me, and I smash the heel of my now-free hand into Todd's nose, feeling the cartilage crunch. He howls, and I spring free, darting down the street and into the crowd that has gathered to watch the spectacle of my arrest.

I don't have much of a head start, and the guards are both way bigger than me. And better fed, too. I sprint as fast as I can once I break loose of the stunned throng, my bare feet slapping against the mud. Todd and his buddy are right on my heels as I dart down a narrow side street, shoving some five-year-old behind me to trip them up. She starts bawling, and I know they didn't decide to go around the kid.

I round another corner—and run smack into a wall. As stars swim in my vision, the guards catch up to me, grabbing my wrists and forcing me to the ground. How was I supposed to know that there was a building there? I must have run down the wrong street. Now, dizzy and with an aching head, I can only lie there in the mud as Todd plants his boot into my back and slaps me, hard.

"Damn rascal. Eddie, you best get some cuffs onto this kid." Todd's voice is thick, slurred perhaps because of his freshly broken nose. Somehow, the injury reminds me of this thing, before the hybrids came, called paying it forward. Ryan broke my nose, I broke Todd's. The universe is happy.

"I be doin' that, Todd." Eddie, who must be the other guard, wraps a rough, scratchy rope around my wrists, securing my hands behind my back. They yank me to my feet, and Todd smacks me with his club to keep me moving. I get the feeling that he's pretty put out over his broken nose, which is a little unfair. It's not like I spoiled his good looks or something, because he didn't have those in the first place.

Every time I stop to catch my breath, because although I don't want to admit it, I'm extremely dizzy, Todd or Eddie pummels me with a club or fist. All this over a stinking five copper purse. If only I hadn't left it in the palm of my hand like some sort of amateur, and had been on the lookout for guards.

As they push and shove me towards the town hall, I see a strange man watching me. He's wearing green headphones over his ears, and one of his eyes is hidden behind a chunk of his brown hair. It's hard to tell at this distance, but I think the eye I can see might be red. His jeans and white t-shirt mark him clearly as not from here, by the fact that they're clean.

What stands him apart perhaps as obviously as his clothes, though, is his confident stance. He moves like he owns the world. "Hey!" he shouts to the guards, and he has a slight accent to his words. That's when I notice the sword at his hip, and realize where he's from. Can I just fall into a hole and die, please? It'll be less painful than if this man wants to get involved with my punishment.

"M'lord," Eddie and Todd mutter, bowing respectfully as the man advances, pulling his headphones off to down around his neck.

"What are you doing with him?" he asks, jerking a finger at me. Please no. I don't want him to take me. Not someone from the Fortress.

Todd sees that I'm staring at the man and shoves my head down so that I face the dirt. "He be under arrest, for stealin'."

"It looked more like you were hitting him repeatedly with a club," the man from the Fortress muses. His hard, strong fingers slide the hem of my shirt up, and I flinch away as he touches my back, examining me like I'm a hunk of meat in the market that he's not sure whether he's buying or not. I don't want him to touch me. Especially when I can't even see if he's about to turn me into a toad or something unnatural like that. "He's already bruised."

"He's gonna be more than bruised when we be finished w' him," Eddie chuckles. Yeah, yeah. I know. Because I've done this about twenty times: get sentenced, get whipped, get branded, and then get released to eventually get caught again, where the cycle repeats. I'm used to it.

"I suppose you think it's funny," the man says neutrally, dangerously. "That it's funny, for someone to be caught, and funny, to punish them before they're even sentenced."

Eddie and Todd both go very quiet.

"Pain isn't a nice thing, gentlemen. It isn't something to inflict upon others without reason."

"He done broke my nose!" Todd interjects angrily.

"Then let the law punish him for resisting arrest, and have satisfaction that you did not stoop to the level of taking revenge on a helpless boy. What crime is he charged with?" the man asks icily.

"Petty theft," Eddie says. "He be lyin' about it, too. Sayin' somethin' about his Auntie Sally."

"He will be charged at the town hall?" Oh no. I see where this is going. Damnitdamnitdamnit, _damn it_. I yank at the ropes around my wrists, ignoring the pain as the tough fibers scratch my skin. I have to get loose. I have to get out of here, before the man from the Fortress can get a chance to do something horrible to me.

"Yeah," Todd mutters mutinously.

"I'll take him from here."

No! I knew it! Not good! Very much not good!

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><p><strong>And so it begins... Love thy author but hate thy cliffhanger.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

I fall tremblingly onto the floor of the town hall, knowing I'm making a spectacle but not caring. The man looks at me, a curious half-smile appearing on his tight, thin lips. "What are you doing that for?"

"I…" I close my mouth just in time. I can't talk to someone from the Fortress.

Even if he didn't hurt me on the way to the town hall, he's still dangerous. People from the Fortress are different. Some say they're evil wizards. Others say that they're monsters who take the shape of humans, wearing our clothes and walking amongst us. Still others say that they're all barking mad. I'm not sure which to believe. Maybe they're insane evil wizard monsters.

"Another of the street rats, eh?" says the voice of the magistrate as he rounds the corner. "Best be throwin' him d—oh! M'lord!" The magistrate bows low to the man. "Lord Tyler, Magistrate Connor be at your most humble service."

Lord Tyler returns the gesture with a nod. "My thanks, Magistrate." I shudder as he nudges me with his foot. "Two guards found him and arrested him for thieving. He resisted and broke a nose in the process, but was subdued."

"How much done he steal?" Magistrate Connor asks.

"Five coppers are in the purse he took, but I cannot be certain of the original amount." Lord Tyler glances at me.

"Five coppers," I mutter, knowing that my response is as good as a confession but also knowing that even if I don't confess, I'll still be punished. If they think I stole more than the five coins, I'll definitely be worse for the wear.

"Quiet, you!" I earn a kick in the stomach from the Magistrate and bite the inside of my cheek to stop the yelp that threatens to escape. "Be we guessin' that it was more than five, m'lord?"

Lord Tyler flicks his gaze over me, and I press myself into the floor, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I want to be invisible. I want very much to be invisible. "Look at me," he orders calmly. "Now." He has the voice of someone who knows that he will be obeyed, and hesitantly, I do. "How much did you take?"

"F-five coppers, m'lord," I manage to choke.

In one fluid movement, he draws his sword and levels it at my throat, touching the tip of the blade to my skin as I shrink back. "How much?" he asks, a frightening edge to his voice.

I cower as far back from the steel as I can. "Five! I be tellin' the truth, m'lord!"

After a long moment, Lord Tyler sheathes his sword. "I believe him. It was five, otherwise he would have changed his answer," he announces coolly. "They always do, when they're scared." He turns back to me. "What is your name?"

Jason. I'm Jason. But when I'm in trouble, I can't be Jason. "Edgar Alvarez," I squeak. It's the first thing off the top of my head, and I think Lord Tyler knows it.

He definitely knows it, because his eyes harden. "That is a lie, _Edgar Alvarez_. Your real name."

"Frederick Ugbert!"

"I will ask you one more time, and you will tell me, or you will be obstructing justice and face the penalties."

I don't doubt that there's some musty old law that I could be punished for breaking if I don't tell him my name. "Jason," I whisper. "My name be Jason, m'lord."

His gaze isn't hostile as he searches my face, just calculating and unyielding. "Alright then, Jason." Lord Tyler turns back to Magistrate Connor. I think for a minute how out of place his neon green headphones seem, and then mentally slap myself. _He is from the Fortress_. Why should anything seem normal about him? "Jason has admitted that he stole the five coppers, and I could call witnesses to his resisting of arrest."

"Yeah. Kid, you be found guilty of petty theft and resistin' arrest. You done been sentenced to ten stripes of the lash, and—"

"Pardon my interruption, Magistrate, but isn't there typically a trial first?"

"Huh?"

Just then, the door flies open. "Ty, you're an idio—I mean, Tyler, you have delayed. We must return with all haste to the Fortress, as we have been gone far too long." It's another person from the Fortress. I am so dead. So very, very dead.

"Lord Seto!" Magistrate Connor exclaims, bowing in his direction and getting a quick, cursory nod in return.

"Damn it, Seto," Lord Tyler starts to groan, but then he stops and blinks. "I mean, Seto, I apologize most sincerely for the waiting, but I heard a commotion and decided to investigate." He pokes me again with his foot, and I flinch away again. I don't want them to touch me.

Magistrate Connor blinks. "M'lord, if we might be movin' on with the sentencin'?"

Lord Tyler opens his mouth to say something, but Lord Seto cuts him off. "That would be excellent. Ty—Tyler—, we should depart now."

"Fine," Lord Tyler sighs, following Lord Seto out the door and into the rain.

Magistrate Connor turns back to me as they exit, leering down at me. "Someone from the Fortress done take an interest in you, kid? You's bein' in a tight spot. I dasn't be you, kid. I dasn't be you." He shakes his head, but hardly looks sympathetic. "Guard!"

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><p>Fifteen minutes later, my hands are secured above my head, and I'm hanging from a hook imbedded in the dungeon ceiling. I take deep, slow breaths as the guard pumps the bellows, stoking the fire that heats the branding iron. I know what it's going to feel like, and that makes it worse. You can't imagine how it feels to have something so hot pressed against your skin, how disgusting it is to smell yourself burning. It makes the anticipation something terrible, when you know.<p>

They've already whipped me, flaying my back so raw that there are only a few stripes of skin left. The wounds don't bleed a lot; rather, they just ooze, blood slowly dripping down from around the edges of my tattered skin. I can feel it, and it _hurts_.

The guard picks up the iron. "You gettin' scared yet?"

"You wish," I mutter.

He snorts his hyena cackle and circles around behind me. There's a pounding in my ears, and I realize it's my heartbeat. I want to be calm about this. I want to let this happen with dignity and decorum. But it's a branding iron, and I know how this feels, and I'm sweating now, trying to get enough air. "Want a countdown, kid?" the guard teases.

No. I do not want to know when this is going to happen, I just want it to happen so it's done.

"Ten… nine… eight…"

From the street above, I hear a sudden clatter of footsteps.

"Seven… six…"

There are people screaming.

"Five…"

An alarm starts to blare, and I know why they're shouting.

"Four…"

I need to get out of here, and fast, or I will die.

"Three… two…"

I spin around as far as the chain will let me and kick at the guard, making him stagger and sending the iron to the side.

Well, it would have gone to the side, if he hadn't tried to catch it.

Instead, the iron falls as though in slow motion, its red-hot tip landing directly on the guard's face. He howls as his skin crisps, and I watch as the tissue of his face bubbles, liquefied by the heat. His eyes are huge and terrified as, shrieking, he grabs for the branding iron with his bare hands. They get scorched too, and now he rolls to the floor, screaming in pain.

Oh Notch. I didn't mean to do… that. The guard is sobbing, and as he finally manages to get away from the iron, I catch a glimpse of his face. It looks like it melted, with part of his cheek dripping down towards his mouth. Oh Notch.

I breathe deeply, trying to calm myself. I can't let myself concentrate on what I just did, but it's all I can think about. That ghastly, horrible face…

No. I have to think about getting out of here. I need to get out of the cuffs. How the Nether do I get out of the cuffs?

Something clicks in my brain. Hook. I'm hanging from a hook. Maybe I don't need to get the handcuffs off yet. I kick my legs back and forth, getting myself moving in a pendulum motion as I swing on the ceiling. My back screams in protest, but I can't stop now.

As I start to swing forward again, I don't stop myself and swing back, but instead let my momentum carry me forward, pulling the chain between my hands up and off the hook, releasing me on a trajectory towards the wall. I'm flying for a second, and then I crash into it and hit the floor. I hear a strange, pained squeaking noise and realize it's coming from me.

There's no time to waste, though. I stand up shakily, glad that my hands were moved to be cuffed in front of me, and run up the stairs. The main dungeon door has been blown off its hinges, along with most of the front of the town hall, confirming what I already knew as surely as the screaming outside does.

"Hybrids!"

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><p><em><strong>Oh, my... the plot thickens... <strong>_

_**Thank you to all the wonderful readers who put up with my cliffhangeralicious habits!**_

_**Did anyone notice what Jason's initials in his second fake name would be? I think that's his way of cussing without getting in trouble...**_

_**Peace out, and beware of rabbits!**_


	3. Chapter 3

I run out of the shattered town hall and into the streets, searching for an intact building I could hide in. Right now, I can't see any, although that could be because of the smoke. Most of the buildings are on fire, the hungry tongues of flame licking at the wood. The rest of the buildings appear to be collapsing from explosions.

There's nowhere to hide, so I have to run. It hurts to move, what with the half-scabbed mess that is my back. It'll hurt worse if I'm caught, though, so I make myself keep going, not pausing to see if I recognize any of the bodies that litter the ground.

An arrow splashes into the mud in front of me, and I wheel around to see a grinning skeleton hybrid. Half of her face is that of a normal, albeit pale, girl, but the other section is bare bones with a single glowing red spot where her eye should have been. The rest of her appears to be a piecemeal of skeleton and human, with the edges of her flesh joined to the rest by what looks like a paste of bone. Her white, skinless hands nock another to her bow, and she lets it go, straight for me.

I duck, escaping the point by mere inches. My heart is pounding as I drop to a crouch behind a pile of rubble, hopefully out of her sight. I hold my breath as she clatters past me, apparently not interested in a target that moves.

I wait until the skeletal hybrid is gone, then jump up and run in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, it seems that it might have been smarter to follow the girl, because I see something worse. Three spider hybrids are moving in a pack. Each of them has four extra arms, and each of those arms brandishes something spiky and painful-looking, be it a mace or a barbed chain. They have thick black plates of chitin serving as armor placed seemingly randomly around their bodies. The hybrids have extra eyes, too, although I can't count them at this distance.

The spider hybrids are poking through the rubble, stilling those that still twitch feebly. I see one open his mouth and use his clicking mandibles to chomp down on some kid's neck. Even from here, I can see the spurt of blood, and the kid stops struggling as his head _rolls off_ and hits the ground. The hybrid drops the body, and looks up. Straight at me.

Suddenly, I know I don't want to be close enough to count their eyes. I run back the way I came, and stop short at the sight of five grinning skeleton girls. Damn. The one I saw earlier wasn't retreating. She was getting some buddies. Their leader draws back her arrow, and the others follow suit. Their skeletal grins continue onto the human sections of their faces, leaving them smiling horribly. They raise their bows to be leveled at my chest.

Not good. I bolt at the nearest house, slamming through the door with my shoulder. Inside, the smoke instantly fills my eyes, sending involuntary tears down my face as I dodge the little piles of collapsed wood that are just beginning to smolder. The upper floor of the house is already ablaze, and I know that this is only a temporary refuge.

There must be a back door. There has to be one. I fumble my way through the burning building, coughing as smoke fills my lungs. My eyes are burning, and I can hardly breathe. Tripping over what looks like it used to be a child's doll, I tear away a shred of fabric from a cushion on one of the overturned chairs and press it to my nose and mouth, hoping to filter out the worst of the smoke.

My eyes burn _so much_, and between the smoke and the tears, I can hardly see anything except the fire that has spread down to the lower level even in the few short moments that I've been here. I know I've reached the other end of the house when I bump into a wall. There's no… no way out.

I cough, sliding to the floor as I gasp for air. This is unacceptable. Dying is unacceptable, just like it was ten years ago when my mom left. I waited for her to come and find me for days. I roamed the streets looking for her. But she never came. I told myself that I would sit down and wait until she came back.

But almost a week later, I was starving, and she still hadn't come. I knew that she was dead then, because she'd made me a promise. She promised that she'd always take care of me. She never broke a promise. That meant that for her to not be there, when I was crying and alone and _scared_ on the streets of Caliphas, she had to be dead.

I'd known what I had to do, because I wasn't going to let myself die. I'd become a beggar at first, and then when I outgrew my cuteness, a thief. I took from people so that I could survive. I know my mom would have never wanted me to do that, but… it's not like she was giving me any better suggestions. She was dead, after all.

Why am I even thinking about this? It doesn't matter. What matters is getting out of this smoke and away from the fire. There isn't a back door, so what am I supposed to do?

A hand roughly shakes me, and I yelp at the pressure on my torn, aching back. "Get up, kid. Get out of here. Get moving." I can't see who's talking to me, but stagger to my feet, following blindly in the direction the person indicates.

I stumble, and a strong arm catches me around my waist, half carrying me now in the right direction. At least, I hope it's the right direction. "W-where?" I cough out. Where is this person taking me?

"Outside. Kid, you're going to choke on smoke. Keep going." The speaker is male, I think.

I gasp when my hands strike gravel and mud as the person shoves me out the door and onto the ground, where I retch and cough, massaging my throat. I still can barely see a thing.

But what I do see is the skeletons and their spider friends, and in my currently helpless condition, that is not a welcome sight.

The man who rescued me, however, seems unbothered. He raises his hands and says a word. And then there is a huge burst of sound, and a lot of stuff goes bang.

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><p>I wake up to find Ryan leering down at me. "You be lookin' might pale there, J. A ghost done scare you or somethin'?"<p>

I scramble to my feet, only to find that while I was asleep, he must have found a spur of metal or something, because the chain that connects my hands is pounded into the ground so that I can't stand up or get away. Ryan laughs, and then whips his leg out, under my feet, sending me crashing down to lie on my back, my hands cuffed to the side and leaving me at an awkward angle.

The impact leaves me unable to breathe for a few seconds, and that's enough time for him to plant his foot onto my chest, hard enough that I think he might have just snapped a rib. "J, d'ya see anythin' interestin' about this?"

Obviously he can't be expecting me to answer.

"W' all the hybrids, nobody be thinkin' to blame me if you be goin' missin'." He leans forward and slaps me, and that's the signal for the rest of his friends to start beating me.

After about two minutes of it, I find that I am making a horrible moaning sound as I cringe from their fists. My mouth is bleeding, and someone had the brilliant idea to start throwing rocks at me. So far, they haven't been aiming for my head, but Ryan will probably get bored soon.

So this is it. I survive a hybrid attack and being trapped in a burning building, only to be killed by a murderous kid maybe even younger than me. It hardly seems fair.

There's a crunching of footsteps behind me, and I realize that the onslaught has stopped. Ryan stands over me, holding a large rock in his fist. Uselessly, I try to move away from him.

Dying is unacceptable.

He brings the rock down in an arc towards my temple, and then freezes, dropping it and scrambling backwards. "M'lord," he chokes.

I look and see… Oh no. People from the Fortress.

I don't worry about them for long, though, because blackness is creeping into my vision, and within moments I'm unconscious.

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><p><strong><em>Aww, poor Jason.<em>**

**_He's going to be in for a shock next chapter..._**

**_...but I can hardly give you spoilers now, can I?_**

**_Thanks for all the support, guys and girls!_**

**_Love thy author, hate thy cliffhanger, and beware of rabbits!_**


	4. Chapter 4

When I wake up, I'm strapped down to a padded table, with a thick band around my stomach and other restraints around my arms. I'm blindfolded, too. There's a wad of cloth in my mouth, and a gag covers the lower half of my face, so I can't even scream.

I think I should probably be screaming.

A door squeaks open behind me. "He's all clear." Several voices sigh in relief. "Ty, do you want to let him up now?"

"Of course," says a familiar voice.

Oh Notch. It's Lord Tyler. That means that I'm… in the Fortress. In the Fortress. _In the Fortress_, which is also known as being completely and utterly dead. At least I've answered a few of my questions. Yes, they are going to hurt me, and yes, they are going to kill me.

Hands quickly undo the straps that hold me down and take away the mask, then come up to my eyes. As soon as the blindfold is taken off of me, I pull as far back as I can, and then I'm falling.

I hit the ground with a crunch and realize what just happened—I must have rolled off the table. My shoulder is screaming in pain, as it took the worst of the impact. Slowly, awkwardly, I climb to my feet, and as I do I get a glimpse of my surroundings.

I'm in a white room with the table I was just on and a hard tile floor. There are several metal cabinets, and two doors leading to who knows where. Five people stare at me, all with varying degrees of shock on their faces. I inch towards the nearest door, and then burst into a run, springing at it to flip it open and get out of here.

Instead, I slam headfirst into it and fall over. It's not fault it was locked. A set of strong arms pull me up and wrap tightly around my waist, keeping me from moving. "Take it easy, kid," says a gruff voice.

I recognize that voice. It's the person who rescued me from the fire, and I try to twist around to get a better look at him. "What you gonna be doin' to me?" I whimper as the person steers me towards a chair and forces me to sit down.

"What _are_ you _going to_ _do_ to me. That's how you should say it," says someone with a purple amulet and dark sunglasses. "Now ask again, with proper grammar."

"Sky, cut it out. He's too freaked out to bother with grammar," someone with glasses and a black jacket interjects.

"It's never a bad time for good grammar, Ian," the Sky person says. Lord Sky.

"W-what be a grammar, m'lord?" I ask, terrified of what the answer might be. Will they use a grammar to torture me? Do grammars hurt?

"Never mind," Lord Sky groans. "I had to beat it into the heads of these guys, anyway."

They're going to beat a grammar into my head! A shudder runs through me. "P-please d-don't be hurtin' me. P-please d-don't, m'lord!"

"Huh?" Lord Ian wonders aloud.

"What did I say?" Lord Sky asks, looking around.

"I have no idea, but clearly it wasn't good," Lord Tyler mutters. He takes a step towards me, and I flinch. "What my friends have neglected to explain is that we aren't going to hurt you. We aren't going to kill you. We're going to take care of you."

"R-right," I stutter disbelievingly. They're lying. They're trying to trick me. This is a trap.

Sometimes guards do this to catch thieves. They'll pretend to be some rich, kind old person, and then if you try to rob them, they'll catch you. They offer to help you find food, find shelter, and it really seems, for about a minute, like maybe for once in your life someone actually wants to help you instead of make things even worse. But if you follow the guard, instead of taking you to a safe place like they say they will, they take you to the town hall and whip you and brand you.

You only fall for that once.

"He's serious. You just didn't stop freaking out long enough for us to explain," says the person holding me. He's Lord Seto, I remember. That's a completely irrelevant detail, but I know his name.

"You's lyin'."

"Are you hungry?" Lord Tyler asks suddenly.

Food. Yes, I am extremely hungry, and if I find food, I will probably eat it as fast as I can get it into my mouth. My stomach growls loudly before I can decide whether to tell them the truth or not. So much for that.

"If you just relax a bit, we'll give you something to eat," Lord Tyler promises.

That's what they always say. Slowly, I raise my head to search his face nervously. I don't know what I see. His expression is tough but kind, and he has honest eyes, even though they're… um… red. He meets my gaze, and I find myself trapped, like a mouse helplessly staring at an alley cat.

"Wait a minute," he mutters. "I know you."

I look away quickly, but he crosses the room in a few large strides and turns my face towards his. "M'lord, p-please…" Please what? I'm not sure.

"You're that kid who stole the money a few days ago. Jason." Oh Notch. This is bad bad bad very bad extremely bad I am so totally dead bad bad _bad_. "I didn't recognize him at first because I couldn't see his eyes," Lord Tyler explains to everyone else.

"Poor thing," murmurs Lord Sky sympathetically, looking at me. Or maybe he's being sarcastic. "No wonder he was stealing. He looks half starved."

"Agreed," Lord Ian says. "Ty, you can't really be pissed at him. He needed to eat."

"I can tell," Lord Tyler (Ty?) says. He reaches down and pokes me in the ribs, and I yelp. I'm a tad on the thin side, and there's not much padding between my ribs and painful finger pokes.

"He's pretty squeaky," a guy in a checked jacket remarks. He's the only one who hasn't been talking.

I'm not squeaky, just responsive to pain.

"Mitch, he's got every right to be squeaky," Lord Seto says.

But I'm not squeaky.

Lord Tyler touches my arm, and I… well, I squeak as I flinch away. "Jason, hold still," he orders.

"L-Lord T-Tyler, w-what you gonna be doin' to me?"

He bursts out laughing, and so does everyone else. I take advantage of their distraction to tear away from Lord Seto's grasp and run to the far side of the room. I shrink back into the corner as they turn, still laughing, towards me. "Call m-me T-Ty," Lord Tyler giggles in a most un-lordly manner. "And I was just hoping you could relax a bit. Oh Notch, though, I still can't—Never mind."

Why where they laughing? He is a lord, isn't he? Am I in trouble? Do they think I'm stupid?

"How come Ty gets to be a lord?" Lord Mitch asks. "What do I not know?"

"We'll explain later," Lord Seto chuckles.

Lord Tyler—Ty—moves close to me, and catches me easily as I try to bolt. "Jason, relax. We haven't done anything to hurt you, and we aren't going to. Now, there are two things that we need to do, and then you'll be able to eat. We'll give you food."

I want food. Just the mention of it, and I feel my knees turn to water while my stomach groans again. But… "You be lyin'," I protest.

"Why would I have to lie?" Ty asks, and my mouth goes dry. It's true. They could force me to do anything.

"What do I gotta do?" I finally choke. If they aren't lying and give me food, then that will be good. And I have nothing to lose.

"Simple. You need to let Sky—he's the doctor around here— figure out what all's wrong with you, because you probably have a lot of injuries that we don't know about yet and that you might not feel for a while, since we gave you a second dose of painkiller a little while ago when you started crying in your sleep. That's one thing." Here Ty wrinkles his nose. "And no offense, but you are in desperate need of a bath. So that's the other."

* * *

><p><em><strong>And I doubt that Jason's hair has ever seen a brush...<strong>_

_**orchidlove123, why do you hate me? *covers face with hands and cries* WHY YOU DO DIS?**_

**_My cat has decided to strategically place her bum right in front of my face, so this A/N is done._**

**_Beware of rabbits, and peace out!_**


	5. Chapter 5

I stare at my skin. It's strangely unfamiliar without they layer of dirt I've gotten used to. Without a thick coat of mud, I'm pale, but almost every inch of me is a bruise or a scabbed-over cut, so what does it matter?

My hair isn't dark brown anymore; it's way lighter, and hangs in slightly looser curls. And as I stand in front of a mirror, pulling on the clean clothes that Ty gave me before he left, I realize that I have freckles on my face.

The last time I looked in a mirror was never. When my mom and I even had a house, before it was destroyed in a hybrid attack, we didn't have the spare cash for an extravagance like that. But here in this room, there are three mirrors. And a bathtub with water that's warm, not whatever temperature it is outside. And there's soap, not a handful of sand that you use to scrub yourself raw with. And there's a different set of clothes when you get out of the water.

If this wasn't the Fortress, I'd want to stay awhile. It's nice here, and the air isn't cold, and it isn't raining inside. I want to explore this place, because there are so many doors. I counted eight on the way from what Ty explained was the laboratory to here, and I'm pretty sure I missed some, because I'm not that good at counting. Doors are cool, because they always have something behind them, and it could be anything. I love opening doors. For a little while, they let you fool yourself into hoping.

I look at my reflection for a few minutes, taking in the skinny, rangy boy who looks back. My eyes are too big for my face, and my cheeks are hollow, sunken. All the clothes hang loosely on me, and were clearly made for someone a little more, er, _buff_ than yours truly.

The door creaks open, and I whip around to see Lord Sky standing there. "Hey, Jason. You smell much better."

I know I blush, because my cheeks heat up intensely. I didn't smell _that_ bad. At least, I don't think I did. But I'm too nervous to really care. Maybe this is where they'll show their true colors. Maybe Ty was lying about them just wanting to see if I'm hurt.

Maybe they want to _make sure_ I'm hurt.

"Are you ready to go downstairs?" Lord Sky asks gently.

"Y-yes, m'lord," I whisper. There's no easy way out.

He chuckles. "I'm not a lord, and neither are the others. I'm just Sky."

"Yes, m'lord," I whisper again, then catch my mistake. "Sorry, m'lord—Lord S—Sky."

"It's fine. If you need to call someone a lord, do it to Mitch. He'll love that," Sky grins. Tentatively, I try to smile a bit, and then stop when it makes my mouth hurt. I'm out of practice at smiling. "Let's go." He reaches for my arm, and I flinch away. I do not want him to touch me. His smile fades after a second, and then he shrugs. "Follow me, then."

* * *

><p>We descend a long staircase to one of the doors I saw earlier. Sky opens it and lets me into a small, tidy room with blank white walls. He pats a spot on the table that sits in the center of the room. "Lie down up there, Jason."<p>

"Why?" I ask. I don't want to lie down up there. I do not like being on tables. Tables are where the guards hold people down to whip them. Tables are not good. Lying down is also not good, because you can't get out of the way as fast when people try to hurt you.

"I need to check for injuries, and it'll be easiest if your muscles are more relaxed."

"Is it gonna be hurtin'?"

"If it hurts, then you need to tell me, because it shouldn't hurt." Sky puts a hand on my shoulder, and I cringe away from his touch. "You don't have to be so jumpy," he says reproachfully.

He's wrong. I do have to be jumpy. And I don't usually call it jumpy. It's fast reflexes.

"Jason, you're safe here. You can relax now."

"I dasn't."

Sky sighs. "Give us a chance, okay? Ty is friendly once you get to know him. Ian is really laid-back and pretty happy-go-lucky. Seto can be fun to be around, if he's in a good mood. Mitch is always ready to talk to anyone. You haven't met Jerome yet, but he's one of the nicest people I've ever met, when he's not hungry or having a bad fur day. As for me, I like to think that I'm sociable, light-hearted, amusing, and a good person."

One thing is stuck in my head. "Why be Jerome havin' fur days?"

He laughs. "You'll find out later. Hop on up," Sky says, patting the table.

I obey him after a moment's hesitation, lying down on the cold metal and suppressing a shiver. Sky puts his hand on my belly, and I flinch away.

"Relax. I just need to make sure that you don't have anything _really_ messed up. If you've got internal bleeding, then that's a problem, and we need to find out. I won't hurt you, Jason. Someone must have hurt you before to make you so scared, but trust me, I'm not them."

I don't know what to say to that.

He slides my shirt up to around my ribs and gasps a little. "As a matter of curiosity, were you trampled by an Ender Dragon?"

"N-no," I stutter.

"Poor kid," he mutters, voice so soft that I barely catch the words. Sky presses his fingers against my stomach, and I yelp in pain. "Oh Notch! Did I hurt you?"

"Y-yeah," I whisper. A lot. It hurt a lot.

"Sorry! But this—I'm not going to lie—is pretty bad. Your liver is bruised, and at least one of your ribs is broken. You've also managed to get yourself covered in bruises, and you're cut up. It's like someone was throwing rocks at you or something."

"They done did throw rocks," I mutter.

"Now I remember Ty saying something about that," Sky sighs. "Okay. Ty said that you'd been whipped, too. Let's have a look at that."

I turn over, and Sky gasps again.

"How many lashes…?"

"Just fifty."

"But… the law says for… for ten, if it was a small crime."

"It usually be ten," I say, and then regret the words instantly. "Uh…"

"What do you mean by usually?" Sky asks sharply. I am busted.

I flip away from him and stagger into a wall. The stupid painkillers are wearing off, and I'm starting to feel everything. My head throbs. "N-nothin'."

"Jason…"

"N-nothin'!"

Sky folds his arms over his chest as I sink down to the floor. "There were some marks on your shoulder. They were brands, weren't they?"

"It be a curlin' iron," I lie.

"Yes, because you needed the help," he mutters, gesturing to my hair. Damn. Busted again. "You've stolen before. Gotten caught before. Now are you going to keep lying about it?"

"I didn't do nothin'!"

"Double negatives. That means you did something." What? Where is he getting that? Sky crouches down so that he's meeting my eyes. "Jason, it's okay. Just tell the truth. Admit it."

It would be bad to tell the truth. "I didn't." My head is pounding, and my stomach is hurting. "I d-didn't. I d-didn't do anythin' bad."

"Then why don't I believe you?"

It feels like Ryan and his buddies are inside my head, throwing rocks at my skull from the inside. I want to run, but if I do, I'm going to fall over and throw up. "I… you's gonna be mad. You's gonna be hurtin' me."

"You've as good as told me already. It's okay. I won't hurt you; haven't I already said that?"

He's said that, but can I trust him? I bite my lower lip to stop it from trembling and stare at the ground.

"You just startled me, Jason," Sky says softly. "It's fine if you're about to cry. It's absolutely fine."

I open my mouth to say that I'm _not_ crying, but I can barely breathe and make this awful, choked sobbing noise. Sky opens his arms, and I fall into them, crying for Nether knows why. All I can tell is that I'm crying and getting everything wet with tears and snot and Sky is holding me more kindly than anyone I can remember and that it feels really, really good to be having this complete and utter meltdown.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Aww, ugly crying can be so kawaii. Kawaidesu! <em>**

**_Sorry about the late update; I'm working on a documentary._**

**_Love thy author but hate thy cliffhanger, and beware of rabbits!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Sky is way more tolerant than I would be if a kid came up to me and started bawling his eyes out. He picks me up and carries me out of the room, talking soothingly in low, hushed tones. I don't listen, because I've got better things to do, like sob as loudly as possible into his shirt.

I don't know why I'm crying. It's stupid, really. But I can't stop now that I've started.

"Sky, is he okay?" Ty asks as Sky sets me down onto a couch.

"No. Ty, listen…" Sky's voice fades out of my hearing as he and Ty move away. He's going to tell Ty, and then they're going to hurt me. Of course they will.

I try to sit up, and a wave of nausea and pain hits me so hard that I fall right back down onto the cushions of the couch. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and will myself not to think about how sick I feel. My stomach is _not _churning. My mouth does _not_ taste like it's filled with copper. I can totally breathe normally.

Yeah right.

Someone's hand rests against my forehead, and I bite my tongue to restrain a scream of protest. It _hurts_, and I have a headache that is pounding, pounding, pounding. "Sky, he's got quite the fever."

Footsteps approach. "He needs to sleep. This wasn't an easy day for him."

I don't want to sleep. Sleeping here would not be safe.

"Seto, do you have a spell?"

A spell? I open my eyes just as a rush of blue dust puffs into existence right in front of my face. Everything turns fuzzy and soft, and the more I fight to stay awake, the easier it is to go to sleep. Sleep…

* * *

><p>Waking up from the pillowy comfort of sleep is a struggle, but I drag myself into consciousness and look around for anything I need to run from. Sometimes people will kill you while you sleep. It's easier then. Less screaming, less pleading.<p>

Seto—not Lord Seto, I remind myself—is standing at a window. Lightning flashes, and the sudden glow gives sharp contrast to the raised marks that I can just see around his neck. I wonder what made them. They look almost like the rubs that I get around my wrists after they hang me from the ceiling to brand me, except these are thicker and stand out next to his skin. It's not like I'm going to ask where he got the marks, though.

As I sit up, putting my weight onto my arm, I realize something.

The bruises that crisscross my skin have faded to a dull yellow. My back doesn't hurt so much. And even though it hurts to move, I don't have to scream. It's a nice change, but it means that I have been asleep for much longer than I should have been if I've healed this much.

My stomach growls loudly, and Seto spins around, his eyes going wild before calming to a creamy, chocolate brown. "Oh. It's just you." He adjusts his collar, hiding the marks on his neck. "Hey, kid." Thunder rumbles in the distance.

I try to say something back, but my voice doesn't work and all I manage is a choking sound. My throat feels like it's clogged with sand.

"Sky said you might need water." Seto crosses the room and picks up a glass of water that's sitting on a table next to the bed I'm in. He holds it to my lips, and I drink thirstily, not caring that there might be poison in it. The water is cold and soothes my throat.

"Thanks," I rasp out as he takes the cup away. "How—"

Seto shushes me as another thunderclap sounds outside. "I talk first. The rest of them left me to babysit—I mean, to take care of you, so I have three rules. First, I reserve the right to make new rules at any time. Two, I do not have to answer any questions I do not want to answer. Three, you are not permitted to bother me. Got it, kid?"

"Yeah," I mutter, "but how—"

"I really doubt that you'll be able to follow rule three, because humans are generally ignorant, foolish, and obnoxious freaks of nature."

Huh? "You's bein' human too, right?" A spear of lightning crosses the sky and illuminates the room again.

"Of course I'm human!" Seto says indignantly. "And you already proved me right about rule number three. Now, you can read or do something quiet until the others get back in a few hours. There are books on the shelf over here."

It doesn't make sense. "So why you be sayin' that humans are ignorant, foolish, and ob—"

"You're not being quiet. And according to rule number two, I don't have to answer your unfinished question."

"But—"

"New rule. You have to be quiet." Seto sighs and then stalks over to the window, sitting down in a nearby chair and picking up a book, which he turns through as roughly as though each page has delivered a personal insult. Another burst of thunder rattles the room.

Why is he so mad? And why won't he let me talk? And why hasn't he fed me yet? I want food.

I take in the sights of the room. There's not much to notice, except the towering bookshelves that make up a wall and extend all the way up to the vaulted ceiling. This is one of the biggest places I've ever been in. The non-book-covered walls are a soft sandy color, broken by the tall windows that look out into the raging storm. Fat raindrops have begun to pelt the glass.

The bed I'm in is extremely comfortable, with rich purple blankets that remind me almost of a raven's wings. I curl up tightly and try to be patient. But I really want food, and Sky and the others aren't getting back until a few hours. Seto won't even let me talk, which makes this more boring than it already was. There's no easy way to get out of here, either. That's inconvenient.

I amuse myself by counting the books, but then get to ninety-nine and can't remember what comes next, so I start again. Then I lie back on the bed and try to figure out what the little groupings of raindrops look like. There's one that looks like a boy with the head of a dragon, and another one looks like a giant chain. Either that or blood.

I look away from the windows and start drumming my fingers on the side of the table. Bap bappity bap. Bappity bappity bap. Bap bappity bap. Bappity bappity bap. Bap bappity bap…

"You're annoying me," Seto announces, not raising his head from his book. Lightning flashes.

Maybe that was a bad rhythm. I change up what I'm doing. Bap. Bappity bap tap bappity bap. Bap. Bappity bap tap bappity bap.

"You're still annoying me."

Bap bapda bap. Bap ba badapdabap. Bap bapda bap. Bap ba badapdabap. Bap bapda bap. Bap ba…

"Stop that and go read!" Seto growls, closing his book and glaring at me.

I almost break rule number four and tell him that I can't, but I close my mouth just in time.

"Go read," he says, pointing at a bookshelf.

I shrink back as Seto narrows his eyes angrily. There's another crack of thunder.

"I said go read!"

"But I can't read!" I finally squeal, and then I clap my hands over my mouth. Damn it. I'm in trouble.

Seto stares at me for a minute, and then sighs. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," I say cautiously. At least, I'm pretty sure. It's not like I get a birthday party.

"Seventeen and you can't read."

"Y-yes," I whimper.

"Well, I suppose you can't find any way to keep yourself undestructively busy, then," he says gruffly. "What do you want to do? Sky neglected to tell me that I was going to be your entertainment."

"I…" What do _I_ want to do? Nobody has ever asked that before, not when they're about to beat me up for breaking the rules. "I want to eat food?" I ask uncertainly.

He groans.

ASDFGHJKL

Seto takes me to a kitchen, steers me towards a chair and makes me sit down. I watch, morbidly curious as to what my punishment is going to be, while he spreads something sweet smelling onto one slice of bread, and something thick and tan onto another. Seto puts the slices of bread together and holds it out to me. "Voila. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, otherwise known as the apex of culinary art. Eat it."

I stare at him. "You- You's be givin' it to me?" It smells so good, and hunger is clawing at my belly.

"I was being sarcastic, kid. Everyone knows how to make a sandwich."

"Oh." Now I feel stupid. I take the sandwich thing tentatively, watching Seto for any sudden movements. Sometimes guards will offer a beggar food, and while they're distracted, take the person away for loitering or something like that. Seto can't exactly take me anywhere worse, because I'm already at the Fortress, but still…

I delicately take a small bite. It tastes a thousand times better than it smells, which is really saying something. It's sweeter than anything I've ever tasted, and the bread is fresh, not stale, and it's thick and gooey and I think I might have just died from how good it is. Or maybe I should say was, because the sandwich is gone very, very fast. "More," I plead, licking the last of the crumbs from my lips.

"No," he says. "You'll make yourself sick."

"I be hungry," I whine.

"You can deal with it. More food would make you sick. So while I wait for everyone else to come back and save me from child care duties, what do you want to do?"

"Uh…"

"Alright then. We're going to play chess," Seto announces.

"What be chess?" Is that how he's going to punish me?

"A quiet game and a way to keep you busy so that you don't start that infernal tapping racket again."

A game?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Fact: I am obsessed with chess and play in really competitive tournaments.<strong>_

_**Does anyone else like chess a lot? Because I created a game and I have the notation for it, which I will post in the next chapter...**_

**_Jason being naive and Seto being grumpy... they're both so much fun to write._**

**_Love thy chess-playing author and hate thy cliffhanger, but beware of rabbits!_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**You may enjoy this chapter more if you know how to play chess. It should still make sense, even if you don't. A crash course: pawns are the weakest and you have eight in a line in front of your pieces; they can only go forward and move one square at a time, or two on the first turn, and they capture diagonally one square to the right or left; bishops go diagonally as many squares as they want and capture the way they move; knights can jump over pieces and go in L-shapes (two squares horizontal/vertical and one square in the opposite of that (I.E. Two squares up and one to the right or left)), capturing what they land on; rooks are like vertical/horizontal bishops; the queen is like a bishop and a rook together, and the king goes one square in any direction. If the king is under attack, you have to move it/take the attacking piece/block the attacking piece; otherwise you lose. Ladadadada, that was fast.**_

* * *

><p>As it turns out, chess is actually kind of cool. I get to take control of an army, with knights and rooks and a queen and bishops. I'm even in charge of a king. Seto taught me how to play pretty fast, and now he sets up the board, giving me the white pieces.<p>

"Your turn. Remember, the goal is to be able to take my king."

I nod and stare at the board. It should be pretty easy. I get one of my knights out, jumping him over my line of pawns and staking my claim in the center of the board.

"Interesting." Seto pushes the pawn in front of his queen up two squares.

"Why's you doin' that? Pawns don't be doin' much."

"Not at first." He sits back and waits for me to make my move. "Tell me about yourself."

"Why?" I ask. What does he want?

"Because I'm curious. Talk. Now."

I don't like talking about myself, and I don't trust him. I don't trust Seto or Sky or any of the others. But it was definitely an order, not a request, and I don't want to find out what happens if I ignore him. "Well… my name be Jason. I be seventeen years old." I bring my other knight out and watch Seto's face nervously.

"Thrilling." He frowns at the board for a second and brings the knight near his king out. "Where did you grow up? Do you have any family? Details, not statistics."

I look down. Talking about me isn't fun, and I don't see what the point is. Wasn't he making me play chess so that I'd be quiet? "My mom died when I was seven. She said my dad done died before I was born. I grown up on the streets."

Seto nods. "You were thieving to survive, yes?"

That is not a safe question to answer, so I stay silent, still staring at my feet.

"Hey," he says. "I'm just trying to understand."

I don't want to talk to him, so I look at the chessboard. I can't move anything but my knights yet, unless I move a pawn, so I inch the one in front of my queen forward a square.

"Kid, look at me."

Reluctantly, I raise my head. Now that I can see him properly, Seto has a tired, drawn face that is somehow older than he probably is. His brown eyes are sad and almost cold.

"What? Did you suddenly get shy? I thought kids were supposed to be social. You've been asking questions and messing with stuff all day. So what happened?" Seto moves out his other knight, so now the board is nearly symmetrical. "Hmm?"

"I dasn't talk," I finally explain, pushing the king's pawn up two squares. He takes my pawn, and I take back.

Seto leans forward and presses his fingers to his temples as he stares at the chess board. "Take… take—or take?" he mutters under his breath. His eyes narrow, and then he slides his queen forward, taking mine. "Check. You're scared to talk?"

I take his queen with my king and nod slowly. "You's might be gettin' mad."

"Oh? And what might I do if I were mad?"

"Hurt me."

"I won't," Seto promises, "but you staying quiet is not something that I am going to protest." He moves the pawn in front of his king up two tiles. "It's quite enjoyable to not have people running around screaming all the time. It's almost as though I can actually think again."

"You's likin' bein' lonely?"

"It's not lonely. It's peaceful. There's a difference." Seto glances at me for a second. "And you're not terrible company. Only a five on the one to ten scale of human rottenness."

Should I be flattered or offended? I take his pawn with my knight while I decide how to react.

"You gave me a knight," he notes as he takes back. Oops. But…

"Check!" I shout, moving out my bishop to attack his king. Yes! Victory! Well, at least temporarily. He has to get out of check.

"That's a cheap check." He moves a pawn forward, simultaneously blocking the check and attacking my bishop. "It's very kind of you to play chess with me, you know. Most people think that spending a long time alone with me is extremely frustrating. I make them uncomfortable."

I move my bishop out of his pawn's attack and don't dare to look at him. How the Nether am I supposed to react?

"Aw, you're shy again. That's okay."

* * *

><p>We play in silence for a while, Seto occasionally telling me that my moves are bad. I don't mind, exactly, but it's definitely a bit… odd. He's odd. Actually, this whole place is odd. They let me sleep, and they let me play games, and they let me eat. But there are also people who have fur days here.<p>

I still don't understand that.

Seto frowns at the board, and then grins. "It was a good fight, kid." He moves one of his rooks down. "Check."

I stare at him. "You gave me a rook." I take it with my king, expecting him to get mad. Most people would.

He doesn't get mad, only keeps smiling. Seto's whole face gets younger when he's smiling. "I got checkmate in return," he says, bringing his other rook down the board. "Good game."

I blink and stare at the board. Sure enough, he just won. "How you be doin' that?"

"Practice. The loser gets to clean up," he explains as he settles down into a chair, grabbing a book at random.

I quickly put the pieces back into the box, and hesitantly turn back to Seto. "Could—could you teach me?"

He glances up just as a chunk of his brown hair tumbles down into his eyes. Sighing, he tucks it behind his ear and looks at me. I fidget a little bit. His gaze is practically burning me. "You want _me_ to teach _you_ how to play better chess?"

"Y-yeah."

Seto raises an eyebrow. "I thought you were scared to talk to me."

"Well…" I kind of am, but… he's not _too_ bad.

"I suppose my charming, outgoing nature can win anyone over."

"Uh…" Charming and outgoing are not the first things that come to my mind.

"I'm glad you agree. Fine. I'll teach you. Now go do something quiet until the others get back or I decide that I am no longer sick of spending time around people. And don't hold your breath for that second one." He waves his hand at me in a regal dismissal and turns back to his book. "Shoo."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Seto is so much fun to write. He reminds me eerily of myself.<strong>_

_**Here is the chess game (Jason as white, Seto as black):**_

_**1.**__**Nf3 **__**d5**__  
><em>_**2. Nc3 **__**Nf6**__  
><em>_**3. d3 **__**Nc6**__  
><em>_**4.e4 **__**dxe4**__  
><em>_**5. dxe4 **__**Qxd1+**__  
><em>_**6. Kxd1 **__**e5**__  
><em>_**7. **__**Nxe5 Nxe5**__  
><em>_**8. Bb5+ **__**c6**__  
><em>_**9. Ba4 **__**Neg4**__  
><em>_**10.e5 **__**Nxe5**__  
><em>_**11. f4 **__**Neg4**__  
><em>_**12. Rf1 **__**Nxh2**__  
><em>_** 13. Rh1 **__**Nhg4**__  
><em>_**14. Re1+ **__**Be6**__  
><em>_**15. Bb3 **__**O-O-O+**__  
><em>_**16. Ke2 **__**Bxb3**__  
><em>_**17. axb3 **__**Bc5**__  
><em>_**18. b4 **__**Bd4**__  
><em>_**19. Be3 **__**Rhe8**__  
><em>_**20. Red1 **__**Rxe3+**__  
><em>_** 21. Kd2 **__**Bxc3+**__  
><em>_**22. Kc1 **__**Rxd1+**__  
><em>_**23. Kxd1 **__**Re1#**_

_**I think Seto's move at 15... O-O-O+ is maybe the only solution. And yes, to make this I did play both sides of a chess game.**_

_**I just spoil you guys with double updates, don't I? Beware of rabbits!**_


	8. Chapter 8

After Seto kicks me out, I slink back towards one of the chairs and sit down. He locked the door that leads to the kitchen, because while he was explaining chess I tried to sneak back and get food. The other door is a little too heavy for me to open.

I rest my head against the cushion and watch Seto. Who knows? This could be a trap. He might want me to relax so then he can…

What could he do?

He could kill me! He could eat me! He could boil me! He could hurt me!

He won't, though. At least, he probably won't. Seto is weird and kind of… well, he's not mean, but he's not exactly friendly. I like him more that way. Nobody is just plain nice, unless they're really stupid. And anyone who _acts_ nice just wants something.

Seto doesn't try to be nice. At all.

So what? I trust him, sort of.

His left hand toys with the corner of a sheet of paper, and he chews on his lip. His eyes are narrowed, and then he moans. "No, Bella! The stupid vampire only likes you because your blood smells good! Choose the werewolf! Jacob and you have _so_ much more in common!" Seto hurls the book across the room. "I quit!"

Oh Notch. What is going on? I shrink back against the chair as he strides towards me and yanks a new book off of the shelf. "What be h-happenin'?"

He glares at me. "Terrible love triangles." Seto shakes his head. "I suppose that's all modern fiction is, though, isn't it? Wretchedly obvious love triangles."

"L-love triangles?"

"Where a character has two love interests and can't decide between them, leading to badly written melodrama and lengthy, awful internal monologues. Why anyone reads them, I can't imagine."

"You's was j-just readin' one, right?" I'm not sure I understand.

Seto blinks rapidly, and then sighs. "_Mitch_ was reading it. I saw the book lying around, and couldn't help myself. Now stop being logical, and—what are you still doing here?"

"I…"

"You're not supposed to be here. I don't want to talk, kid." He opens the big, heavy door that I couldn't budge and points outside, down a hallway. "Away with you. Begone. Scram. Shoo. Get on with your day."

By the time he gets to "go away," I've ducked under his arm and dashed out. The door shuts behind me, leaving me alone in a long corridor. Night has begun to fall, and the windows aren't letting in any light. It's pretty much pitch dark, the only light coming from under the door to the room Seto just kicked me out of.

There's a thump from somewhere in the blackness, and I press myself against the door. What is out here? There are a million really bad options. It could be a creeper. Or a skeleton. Or a zombie. Or a… My heart climbs into my throat. It could be a hybrid.

The hybrids are the most terrifying things I know of. No one knows where they come from, but everyone knows that they're evil. The skeleton hybrids and zombie hybrids aren't _too_ much worse than the average monsters, but spider hybrids… creeper hybrids… they're basically impossible to fight. I've never seen anything stronger than them, and I know exactly one person who has and lived to tell the tale.

One of my friends, Matthias, was in the king's army thirty years ago when the hybrids first started attacking. Of course, since the king is basically senile now, Mat doesn't really have a job anymore, but whatever. During one of the first attacks, he saw a magma cube hybrid. It took out three full platoons by exploding in a burst of lava, and that was after it had smashed another. Well, Mat actually said it was seven platoons in the burst and four that it had smashed, but he might have been exaggerating.

I hope he was exaggerating.

The thumping sounds start again, but this time they're much louder, and they continue. A loud voice echoes up through the hallway, along with twisted, distorted laughter. I need to get out of here, but if I make any noise, then whatever is coming might find me.

I lean against the door and try to force it open, but it won't move. Oh Notch.

There's a thump again, and I see a shadowy shape in the darkness. It's soon joined by a few others, and they're headed towards me. Not good. Not good. Not good. I can't run around them, I can't go into the room, and I'm not going to be able to hide. A terrified whimper escapes my throat, and then there's a flash of flame.

* * *

><p>When the spots stop dancing across my vision, I see… Sky, Ty, and the other guys whose names I forgot, illuminated in the light of the torch. The guy in the checked jacket starts to laugh. "It's just the kid. Seto must have abandoned him."<p>

"Mitch, I'm sure Seto didn't _abandon_ him," Sky says.

The door opens, and I fall over backwards into the room, caught by Seto, who shoves me unceremoniously towards a chair. "Yeah, I kicked him out," he sighs. "Sky, I appreciate your efforts to give me social opportunities, but there's only so much 'childlike innocence' I can take. He's seventeen, and can't even _read_. He believed me when I told him that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was the apex of culinary art. He's barely able to talk with any sense of grammar, and—"

"He's also sitting right there," Mitch points out, but I barely hear him over the blood that roars into my ears.

Of course. They think I'm stupid. They think that I'm dumb.

My face is burning as they all turn to stare at me, and I bury my head into my hands. I don't want to look at them, not when they're looking at me like I've sprouted a tail. I don't even want to be here. I just want to leave. I want them to go away.

"Oh, look. If he can't see us, we don't exist," Seto says. "Object impermanence is cute in little kids, but not so cute in teenagers. I'm going to my room, and don't expect to see me later." There's a loud bang, and when I raise my eyes just enough to see past my hands, he's gone.

"Hey, Jason," Sky murmurs soothingly as he puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry I left you with Seto. He can get very… well, let's just say he's not exactly a social butterfly."

"Am I b-bein' stupid?" I stutter, taking my hands away from my face.

Sky sighs. "No, you're not stupid. You just haven't learned better. But honestly, you should probably just stay away from Seto. I thought you guys might get along, I really did, but when he's in a bad mood, he's extremely…"

"Nasty? Rude? Evil?" Mitch offers. "All of the above?"

"Pretty much," Sky admits. "Now, Jason, you need to go to bed, and stay there while we talk. Ian, take him upstairs, will you? The guest room should work for now."

"Sure," a guy I guess is Ian says. "Come on, Jason."

As he leads me up the stairs, I hear Ty's voice. "Do you think we could ask him about the Rune?"

What?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Oh, the suspense. <strong>_

_**I have a new story that I'm going to be writing: a collection of challenge dares, all made into one plotline.**_

_**Dares will be plotline or character challenges, such as "one character believes he is a marshmallow" or "three characters are abducted by fangirls."**_

_**Dare my new story in the comments or PM me! Anything goes, but I reserve the right to not do certain dares.**_

_**Let the insanity begin, and beware of rabbits!**_


	9. Chapter 9

I don't have much time to think about the Rune, whatever it is, as Ian steers me into the room that I'm apparently going to be staying in for now. It's really big, and the only thing in it is a small bed, pushed against a wall with a window. This place is huge.

"So, Jason, here's where you'll be staying. Sorry it's so plain." Ian actually looks almost embarrassed by this completely enormous room. "If you need anything, just knock on one of the doors across the hall. Don't go to the room at the far end, because that's Seto's, and he is in no way a morning person. Oh, and don't come downstairs." He looks around for a moment, and then turns to go downstairs. "See you in the morning!"

The door closes, and I'm alone in the big white empty room. As I jump up onto the bed, I realize how tired I am. And how soft this bed is. And how tired I am… I pull a blanket up around myself and close my eyes. I feel almost… safe.

* * *

><p>I jolt upright. I know I heard something…<p>

There it was again! I hear a zombie groan from somewhere outside my window. Could it… get inside? Looking down, I see hordes of monsters milling around in the courtyard below. A creeper… a bunch of spiders… zombies… skeletons…

Monsters don't come into the city, because it's too bright, but on the outskirts of town, there are packs like these. I once watched a kid get… _transformed_ by zombies. A big group of them caught him, and wrestled him to the ground, and then they started taking chunks out of him. One tore off his nose, and they… they pulled his brain out and ate it. While I watched.

I take another look at the zombies, and try to suppress a shiver. They look just like the ones that attacked the kid.

That's when an arrow hits the glass right in front of my face. The window shatters, and a zombie falls in through the roof. It sees me and growls, and as I try to run, it catches my arm with a slimy, scabby hand, throwing me to the ground. I scream as its filthy nails rake at my flesh, tearing bloody trails. Its saliva drips in strings down its mouth as it takes a bite of my shoulder.

I pull away, and crash into another zombie. They're everywhere! I scream again as they hold me down, taking turns to rip away at me.

And then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I open my eyes again to really wake up.

Seto sighs in relief. "Good. You were screaming pretty loud there, kid. Must have been some nightmare."

"Z-zombies," I whisper, sitting up.

"If that's all your subconscious can come up with, you're pretty good. Me, I get way worse. But whatever." He shrugs.

"What be you doin' here?"

"I woke you up. I heard you crying from down the hall, and figured you weren't going to stop on your own, so I let myself in and found you asleep. Didn't think you'd mind me getting you out of a nightmare." Seto slides off the foot of my bed and stretches. "I'm going to get some sleep. See you in the morning, kid."

I don't want him to leave. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep at all without someone here. There really _are_ zombies groaning outside, and I seriously doubt my ability to ignore them. "C-can… can you stay?"

He turns around, his eyes going wide. "You… want _me_ to keep you company?"

"Y-yes." I pull the blanket up around my shoulders and try not to look pathetic.

"Kid, I'm not really…" His voice trails off as he looks at me. "Fine. But only until you fall asleep. And if you give me puppy dog eyes one more time, I will destroy you." I guess I failed the not looking pathetic thing. Seto sits back down, leaning against the wall as I curl up as tightly as I can, burying my face into a pillow.

I do my best to not think about the low groans of the zombies. I just focus on Seto's quiet, deep breathing as I start to drift back into unconsciousness. My head is pleasantly fuzzy now, and everything is getting soft and distant.

But I'm not so far gone yet that I don't feel when Seto puts his hand on my shoulder. "Goodnight, kid," he whispers, and then I finally fall all the way into the oblivion of sleep.

* * *

><p>Is this another nightmare? Because I feel like screaming now.<p>

There is a giant fluffy monster with fangs and a black suit leaning over me. "Jason! It's time for breakfast!"

Time for breakfast. Time for… breakfast. My heart skips a beat and drops into my stomach. It's time for breakfast. And I think I know what's on the menu. Not good not good not good I'm about to be eaten by a giant fluffball not good not good _not good_.

"Come on! The others are getting hungry!" The monster shakes me roughly with a paw.

I have to escape. I roll to my feet, hitting the ground poised to run. When I spot the open door, I sprint for it, darting down the hall and down a staircase, vaulting over the banister and running along the empty corridor.

Except… it's a dead end. Dead end. It means _I_ am dead. I turn and run in the direction I came from, hoping that maybe the monster hasn't caught up with me. I don't want to be eaten. Something the monster said… What did he mean by the others?

Are… Sky and Ty and Seto and the others… monsters too? They would… eat me? Of course. They've only kept me to eat me fresh. Will they kill me first, or eat me alive? Oh Notch. If I'm going to be eaten, I want to be dead.

I've seen lobsters cooked before, in the market. The cooks just throw them into boiling water, and the lobsters thrash around for almost two minutes. It's awful. Will they do that to me? Are they going to boil me alive, like a lobster? I don't want that. I don't want to die.

But what if they do boil me alive?

The monster gets down the last step of the staircase just as I bolt past. "Stop running!" he growls. "Relax a little, will you?"

I can't stop running if I want to stay not eaten. I most definitely want to stay not eaten. And what does he mean by relax? Go calmly to my death? Act like a vegetable when I can feel everything that they're going to do to me? I am about to be _boiled alive_, and I should relax?

The fluffy monster chases after me. He's getting closer. I look over my shoulder. Fifteen feet. I run harder. I need to not die. But he's getting closer. Ten feet. Five feet. The monster whips out a paw and grabs my arm, sending me off balance. "Ah!" I fall to the ground.

The monster scoops me up, holding me tightly. I kick as hard as I can, and manage to knock myself loose. My shoulder gives a scream of pain as I land on it, and I lie there for a moment, stunned. Then I am hoisted into the air again. I struggle against my captor's firm grip, but it's useless. I am going to be eaten. I am going to be eaten. Oh my Notch, I am going to be _eaten_.

"D-don't!" I sob, thrashing helplessly as the monster carries me off. "Please!" Tears are running down my face, and I can barely see anything through them. Maybe it's better that way. I won't see the pot of boiling water.

"D-don't!" I wail again. The monster opens a door. It's probably to the kitchen, where the water is waiting for me. "J-just kill me f-fast!"

And then I am set down into a chair. What is the fluffy monster going to do now?

A hand rests on my shoulder, holding me in place. "Jerome, what the Nether is happening?" Sky asks.

I break free of Sky's hold and crash into a wall. Someone else catches me, and I scream, fighting against them. "D-don't b-be eatin' me!"

"Jason thinks that we're going to eat him," the monster sighs.

"Mitch, I told you it would be a bad idea to let Jerome wake the kid up!" Seto snaps.

"When? When did you tell me that?" Mitch fires back. "You've been asleep all morning!"

"No, I've been doing important smart people things all morning. You wouldn't understand."

The person who caught me—it's Ty, I think—steers me back towards the chair and forces me to sit down. As I scream again, Seto forces a napkin into my mouth, and the scream is cut off. Now all I can do is cry helplessly and silently as Ty keeps my arms pinned tightly behind me.

"Seto!" Sky says sharply. "We do not gag people!"

"You don't, I do. There's no 'we' about it. And it shuts him up quite nicely." Seto glances at me. "That kid is loud."

I try to scream again and end up choking. It brings a fresh round of tears to my eyes, which sting from all the crying.

"Jason? Jason? Look at me," Sky orders. I do, and I can just see him, though he's sort of smudged, because my eyes are red and swollen like they get every time I have a sob-fest. "Nod if you're listening."

Quickly, I nod.

"Alright. Jason, we're not going to eat you. You're safe. The person who woke you up is Jerome. He's nice. He won't hurt you. Sure, he might look a bit scary, but he's really just fluffy. And he eats fish, not humans. Jerome woke you up so you could come down and eat breakfast, not come down and _be_ breakfast. Okay?"

What? They… don't want to eat me? Now that I think about it, I realize that I can smell food. Food that is not me. So they aren't… they aren't going to eat me?

I nod again, even though I don't totally believe it, and Sky sighs in relief, removing the gag from my mouth. "Ty, you can let him go now. Let's eat, people."

Let's eat people? That is not good. Not good at all. In an instant, I am out of my chair and running back down the hallway. I will not eat people. And I will not sit around waiting to watch people be eaten.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Aww, Jason is so paranoid it's almost cute.<strong>_

_**Whatever could have happened to make him that way, I wonder?**_

**_On a serious note, I will not be able to update for probably about a week._**

**_Survive the lack of derpy, adorable (aderpable?) Jason and beware of rabbits!_**


	10. Chapter 10

Seto finally finds my hiding spot under a chair. "Kid, you do realize that that is a seriously dumb place to be, right?"

"You's was about to be eatin' p-people," I whisper as he crouches down, putting the side of his face to the carpet so he can see me. "I done had to leave."

He blinks. "How the Nether did you come up with that?"  
>"S-Sky said let's eat people."<p>

He blinks again. "Sky said let's eat, people."

"Yes."

"Then why are you hiding under a chair?"

"Because Sky s-said let's eat people!" How does he not get it?

"No, he said let's eat, people."

"What b-be the difference?"

Seto stares at me for a moment, and then groans. "One means he wants to eat people. The other means he wants everybody to start eating."

Huh? This does not make sense. "You's bein' trickin' me."

"Oh, stop that. You don't need to be so nervous. We won't hurt you." Seto sighs. "I kind of understand that you're a little scared. I mean, this place is big and loud and crazy, and the people in it are also loud and crazy. But they mean well, kid. You'll get used to it. You'll fit right in with them." His eyes mist over a bit, and then he sighs again. "Now come on. Get out from under the chair. Don't make me drag you."

I don't really want to come out from under the chair. It is dark and safe here, and everywhere else is bright. Seto was right. This place is big and loud and very, very, crazy. I don't like it. But I'll have to leave the spot under the chair eventually.

"Kid, come out."

Slowly, I squeeze myself beneath the edge of the chair, crawling out into the light. Seto sits up and watches me as I pull my legs free, his eyes dark. I claw my way into a sitting position and wait.

"Good. Now, cover your ears, because there is about to be a very loud noise."

"Why?" Why is there going to be a loud noise? And how does he know it's going to happen?

"Do what I told you to do."

"But—" I don't get to finish, because Seto brings his hands together just then. Instead of a clap, there is the cacophonous sound of something crashing to the ground.

"Toodles, kid. See you later." There is a big bang and a puff of smoke, and then Seto is gone.  
>Magic. There is no other explanation for it. But if Seto can do magic, what does that make him?<br>My stomach lurches. He's a _wizard_.

Wizards are evil, and that's pretty much all anyone needs to know. The only question left at this point is why he hasn't murdered anyone here yet. Is he waiting for a better time to strike? Or are the others in league with him?

If they're in league with him, then he might not have anyone to drink blood from. Everyone knows that wizards need to drink blood to keep their powers. That means he's waiting for a chance to drink my blood.

But... maybe the others are enslaved by Seto the evil wizard's magic. What if they're his unwilling minions?

I don't get to think about this, because just then Sky throws open the door. It bangs into the wall and slams shut behind him. "What fell ove—Oh. Hey, Jason." He holds up his hands slowly. "Please don't run away again, okay? You can relax."

I tense as he comes a little closer. He looks normal enough, but he lives in the Fortress with a wizard. Wizards are evil. Why would Sky want to stay with a wizard?

Maybe the rumor was right. Maybe they're all evil wizards.

Then… I remember something. The Rune that Ty had talked about yesterday. I'd wondered what it meant, but now it's obvious. It's something that wizards want for more power. They think I know where the Rune is.

Something odd happens then, as though I'm falling towards the ground. I see flashes of memories—the market, next to a stand peddling amulets; two people chasing a hybrid down the streets; a thin, pale man with a hood that shadows his face until all that I can see are bright eyes.

"Jason?" Sky asks, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh?" I blink. Where am I?

Oh. The Fortress. I never left.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asks. "You look like you've got a fever.

"Stay away! You's bein' a w-wizard!"

He stares at me. "I'm not a wizard. You need to relax. I'm almost certain you've got a fever."

"Seto's bein' a wizard, then!" I yelp. "He be goin' to kill you all!"

"Am not!" Seto shouts, popping back into existence. I squeak and fall over backwards. "You know, it's very rude to say that sort of thing about people. And I'm not a wizard, thank you very much. I happen to be a sorcerer, and a stunningly attractive one, if I do say so myself." He glares at me. "If you're going to be making slurs against me, would you be considerate enough to do it out of earshot?"

"You were invisible in a corner, Seto," Sky sighs. "Dare I even ask…?"

"No. As Jason would say, you dasn't. But I'll tell you anyway. I have a right to eavesdrop on any conversation and interrupt it whenever I see fit. Especially if the topic turns to yours truly being a you-know-what. I hate wizards. They give everybody who's able to cause explosions at will a bad name."

"Seto… you were eavesdropping. You might hear things you don't like that way."

"Oh, so you need a private discussion? No can do, buster. I'll just hang around in here, making sure you don't talk about me."

"No. Out, Seto. No eavesdropping. Either you're actually taking part in conversation, or you leave us alone. Lurking like that is weird," Sky says, shaking his head.

"Make me," Seto smirks, popping invisible again.

"You are _impossible_!"

"You know you love it," says Seto's voice from right behind me. I squeak again and jump. "Now go on with that little conversation. Sky, you can probably pretend that I'm not here. You're good at it."

"You exile yourself to your room. We don't _evict_ you. You're always welcome to hang out with us, you just choose not to."

"Always welcome, except while invisible and quiet," Seto sniffs from somewhere by the bookshelf. "Some qualifiers you have."

"Why would you want to be around us if you're invisible and quiet?"

There's no answer. Seto is a sorcerer, not a wizard? What's a sorcerer? And… he was listening. My cheeks are burning horribly. I guess he didn't like being called a wizard.

"Fine. Be that way." Sky directs his words towards the bookshelf. "What has you in a bad mood, anyway?"

"Yeah, Seto, quit being an idiot," Mitch says, letting himself and Jerome into the room. "Ian's making more pancakes, everybody."

"You guys were listening too?" Sky sighs.

"Yes," Jerome and Mitch say together.

"Why didn't you come i—never mind. I don't want to know. See, guys, this is why I like Ty. He doesn't eavesdrop. It's nice."

"Actually, he would have joined us probably, but he got stuck in your room. We were sent to get you to unlock the door." Mitch shrugs. What is going on? Seto is right about this place being crazy.

"What was he doing in my room? How did he lock himself in?"

"No idea about either of those. We were looking for Jason upstairs, and Ty failed. You should go get him out."

"Yes, I should." Sky leaves.

"Let's go eat. The ghost needs food." Mitch shrieks as Seto reappears right in front of him, hands outstretched. "Gotcha!" He glances at me. "C'mon, kid. You need food, too. Let's move."

This was not at all weird— Seto being a sorce—whatchamacallit, the Rune, everybody eavesdropping, and everything else. Not weird at all. I hurry to catch up with the others as they follow Seto out.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sorry about the two week hiatus, but I was working on a novel and wrote this all in about two hours.<strong>_

_**Maybe someday you'll be reading the book and think, "Well, maybe it wasn't so bad that a fanfic went on hiatus."**_

_**Or maybe I'm fantasizing.**_

_**Beware of rabbits, and sorry to all the people who I cliffhangered in New Dawn; that was mean.**_


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